1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to electrically conductive and electromagnetic radiation absorptive coating compositions and the like.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A variety of coating compositions are known which have electrically conductive or electromagnetic radiation absorptive properties or the like. The solvent for many of the coating compositions has been primarily a volatile organic compound (VOC). A VOC-based binder system has several drawbacks. It may be toxic, flammable, and possibly explosive. The VOC raw material is costly to purchase and the waste is expensive to discard. Generally, VOC solvent emitted from coating operations is an environmental air pollutant. Expensive equipment and procedures are required to capture and contain VOC solvent emissions in order to reduce air pollution and enable proper waste disposal.
Coating compositions are also known which use electrically conductive or electromagnetic radiation absorptive microspheres. However, these coating compositions have been limited by the binder systems employed.
Finally, coating compositions are known which use a plurality of electrically conductive particles. However, these coating compositions have also been limited by the binder systems employed.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an aqueous based coating composition having electrically conductive or electromagnetic radiation absorptive properties or the like.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a coating composition which is electrically conductive or electromagnetic absorptive or the like having an improved binder system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an aqueous based coating composition having electrically conductive and electromagnetic radiation absorptive properties particularly useful for coating plastic surfaces, fiber reinforced plastics, flexible plastic objects and other flexible materials as well as metal surfaces and the like.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent upon reading the following description of the invention.